Guest Post: Middle School Ain't Easy!

by Victoria Kimble

I’m going to tell you a secret: Middle school is hard for pretty much everyone. Of course, we as adults know that. But for some reason, those kids in the throes of middle school don’t know that. All they can see from their lens are the smiles and wardrobe successes and random good hair/skin days, and they are sure that they are the only one who is coming up short. Comforting words from adults really aren’t that comforting either. At least they won’t be, for another five or ten years.

When I was in middle school, my friends lived on the pages of books. It was not the coolest thing in the world, but it was true. Those friends weren’t scary because I didn’t have to actually talk to them, but they let me into their lives as they lived out their story. They gave me courage and showed me things about life that I was curious about. They even modeled attitudes and actions that I would take and use in my real life as time passed. For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to create those kinds of characters for kids. Characters that will be friends to them, showing them that someone else is feeling what they are about growing up.

My girls are 8, 6 and 4, and clearly, they haven’t reached that magical time fraught with angst. But my heart is already tender toward them and that time. I desperately want to reach them where they are when they get there, but I’m aware that as their mother they might not hear the words I want to say. So I write stories. Stories that maybe they’ll read one day, and when they do a shred of light will pierce their heart and they’ll know that I do understand. But if not them, then maybe other girls.

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I’m so pleased to introduce Summer McKidd and her friends in Soprano Trouble. Summer McKidd is a bright, compassionate 7th grader. She has a good group of friends, which can be a hard feat for someone in junior high. She and her friends love to sing in their choir at school, and this is where her trouble begins. At the fall concert, her friends drag her into a mean prank and Summer is soon sentenced to nursery duty at church. When she walks into the nursery, she sees that the victim of their prank is also a volunteer. Summer begins a friendship with this girl but soon sees that she will have to choose between her group of friends and her new friend. Can Summer do what is right and keep her friends?

Soprano Trouble is the first book in The Choir Girls series, and is now available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble.com, and TouchPoint Press. The remaining books, Alto Secrets, Harmony Blues and Solo Disaster will be released in 2017.

Victoria is a wife, a mom to three girls, a full-fledged homebody, a so-so housekeeper, a mediocre musician and has dreamed of writing her whole life. She lives at the foot of the Rockies in Littleton, Colorado and she will never take that for granted. She loves French fries, superhero TV shows and movies, and cats. She could probably love the beach if she ever spent any time there.

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